We all must do our part
by ssaxby
Summary: A fictional account based on the work of Arthur Ransome with pieces drawn from "Coxswain in the Northern Convoys" the memoirs of Coxswain Sidney A. Kerslane R.N.R., "Naval life and Customs" by Lt-Cmdr. John Irving R.N. and other historical sources.
1. Chapter 1 It's not much

Together we must all do our part

A fictional account based on the work of Arthur Ransome with pieces drawn from "Coxswain in the Northern Convoys" the memoirs of Coxswain Sidney A. Kerslane R.N.R., "Naval life and Customs" by Lt-Cmdr. John Irving R.N. and other historical sources. All events drawn from historical accounts have been fictionalized, any resemblance to actual people portrayed in this fanfic are purely coincidental. This fanfic postulates potential events in the lives of some of the primary and secondary characters in Arthur Ransome's Swallows and Amazons books during World War II.

"It's not much"

John Walker stood on the quay with his sea bag slung over his shoulder looking at the ship he had been told to report to. Now he knew why his commander had asked him if he had small boat experience after the ship he had been assigned to was torpedoed before he could report to his first duty station after trading the Midshipman's buttons on his sleeve cuffs for a single stripe with a loop. His orders had been bollixed up but good then. He had been cut adrift, assigned to a ship that no longer existed. He had reported his situation and he had been asked, Asked!, if he would volunteer for service as an officer aboard an escort ship with the RNR.

Looking at the ship that was to become his home he realized why the staff officer had sounded almost apologetic when he handed him his new assignment. The HMT Ransom was a far cry from the aircraft carrier that he had initially been assigned to. She was a one hundred and sixty foot fishing trawler that had been requisitioned by the Admiralty and equipped with weapons leftover from the last war. It bore little resemblance to his fathers destroyer or the cruiser he had served on as a Midshipman, but it was still a ship in the Royal Navy. He walked to the gangplank looking for someone to report to but no one appeared to be aboard. "Ahoy Ransom!" John shouted, "permission to come aboard!". John heard a clatter and saw someone's head peek out from one of the hatches. "Blimy it's an officer." the head disappeared and was replaced by a burly chap who was dressed more like a fisherman than a navy rating. John said "I'm Sub-Lieutenant John Walker reporting for duty aboard the HMT Ransom. I do have the right ship don't I?" The slightly unkempt sailor responded, "yup, come on aboard then." John stepped aboard, set down his bag, turned aft, came to attention and saluted the White Ensign at the stern. The burly sailor took out a well used kerchief, blew his nose, and mumbled "you'll be wanting to see the Skipper then." Picking up his sea bag John replied "Yes I will, as soon as possible, thank you."

"I'll show you to his cabin then. You want me to stow yer kit?"

"Thank you but no thank you, I'll tend to it myself."

"Suit yourself." the sailor said as he turned and started forward not waiting to see if John was following. He stepped through a hatchway and led John to a cabin door with a brass nameplate that read Lt. Arthur Price RNR. John set down his sea bag, and knocked. "Enter" came a voice from within, John stepped in, came to attention and saluted as he said "Sub-Lieutenant John Walker reporting for duty sir!" the Skipper, a broad soldered middle aged man with a neatly trimmed beard, who despite his navy reserve lieutenant's uniform, resembled a grizzled north sea fisherman more than a naval officer, looked John over and said,"Walker huh, second one this week. Well relax boy you'll find we don't have much of that spit and polish aboard this boat. Don't let the look of the lads fool ya, they might be a bit rough but they're a right good bunch of blokes, and I'm not going to have any regular navy foolishness upset them. Understand?"

"Yes sir." John replied. "Good" the Skipper continued, "We're more like a big family aboard the Ransom, a right scranbag we are, mostly north sea fishermen, several of them young lads like yourself. Our Gunner is an old blue marine, Gunnery Sergeant-Major from His Majesty's Royals, and based on the scuttlebutt in the mess, the boys haven't decided whether the cook is a pensioner from the Boer war, the Crimean war, or Hitler's secret weapon. Everybody pulls their weight and then some. Do your job and we'll get along just fine, now get your kit stowed and sling your hammock. The Coxswain will help you with that. We've orders to sail soon but just for the now your time is yours until supper, I'll expect you in the wardroom then."

"Aye, Aye Sir. Uh sir you said I was the second Walker this week. May I ask who the first was?"

"Certainly, he's a young lad, acting as our new second engineer. He was to be a stoker but since he was so handy with the machinery, got right to work setting things right on some equipment we'd been having difficulties with he did, and seeing as we're still a bit short handed, our Chief recommended him for the slot. Roger, Roger Walker's his name"

"My younger brother's name is Roger Sir and he loves engines."

The Skipper gave John a serious look and said, "yes I think I see a resemblance. If he is your brother you wont have any difficulties working with him will you? You are going to be the second officer on this boat after all."

"No Sir, we've sailed together before, their wont be any problems."

"Good, now git, I've got bloody paperwork to do before we sail."

John took his leave, picked up his sea bag and made his way back to the deck where the crewman with the kerchief, seemed to be waiting for him. John asked, "could you tell me where I could find the Coxswain? I'm supposed to ask him to help me get settled in and familiarize myself with the ship." The sailor blew his nose again before replying, "well, I suppose I could, seeing that would be me. Names Leslie, lets get you stowed and then I'll take you on a look about." Once again he headed forward, feeling a bit embarrassed John followed. They stopped at a small cabin below the bridge and Leslie said, "drop your kit here, you can stow it after our look about." John placed his sea bag on the bunk and followed Leslie back on deck and forward once again. They headed towards the bow and onto a platform where Leslie stopped. "Here's our pride and joy," he said patting an old four inch MkV quick firing gun, "it's not much but it's the best we've got to show Jerry off with". Pointing forward he continued, "capstan, chain locker, and forward stores are up under the bow here." He then lead John aft stopping frequently to blow his nose and point out features of the ship. Mast with lookout, conning bridge and top bridge above with officers quarters below. Twin Lewis guns port and starboard just off the bridge above the Skippers cabin, life boats either side of the funnel with another twin Lewis gun atop the galley between them. Depth charge throwers port and starboard of the galley, crew's quarters, and finally the depth charge rails at the stern. In no time they were back to John's berth. Through his kerchief the coxswain said, "Unless you'll be needing me for anything else sir I have a few things needing to be done."

"By all means, Leslie it is, I don't want to keep you, carry on then, and thank you." The coxswain left and John turned to really take a look at his birth and start stowing his kit.

His berth was a small cabin, if he stretched his arms out he could touch the bulkheads to either side. Straight in front of him as he looked in from the door was a small scuttle looking out, to his left was the bunk where he had left his sea bag. The bunk was made up with white sheets and a good woolen blanket. Below the bunk were two large drawers that, when he pulled them out, appeared to double as leather covered seats and, when he lifted the seat cover, a locker. On his right was a mirror fixed to the bulkhead above a small desk who's top lifted up to reveal a small wash basin with it's own hot and cold water taps. The only other thing was a built in wardrobe between the desk and the side of the ship with the scuttle, in it were already hanging a life vest and a tin hat. It did not take John long to properly stow his few things and he returned to the deck. Well he thought, I ought to check out this acting second engineer and see if it really is Roger, wouldn't that be quite the coincidence if it was? He made his way back towards the engine room and, not wanting to trespass into the engineers territory, called down the companionway, "hullo, is seaman Roger Walker around". A familiar voice replied from below, "John? Is that you?" Then somewhat muted as if he was talking to someone below deck with him, "Chief can I go topside for a moment?" Then up the ladder came Roger with a grease mark on his forehead where he had wiped some sweat from his brow. John smiled and said, "well look at you, right at home it seems". Roger returned the smile and replied, "it is you, and look at you an officer. What brings you to this old boat? Are you going to be in port long?"

"No I don't expect to be in port long but your not going to be rid of me, I'm to be your new second officer."

"Really? That's smashing, there will be three of us then."

"Three?"

"Yes, Tom Dudgeon is aboard as well,you remember him don't you, Dick's friend, leader of that bird protection society of the broads. It will be jolly good having you aboard, almost like old times, though without the girls and having this bloody war and all" Roger added with a frown. "Sorry to hear about the Courageous, I know how much you were looking forward to serving on her, but I'm glad you weren't aboard her when she sank."

"Yes so am I but it did mess up my posting for a bit. You must be happy getting to work with engines and all?"

"I am quite. This boat has a coal fired boiler and a triple expansion steam engine, she'll make eight hundred and fifty horse power which will give the ship a speed of about twelve knots. Not a bit like the handy billy on Goblin. I bet you'll miss sails though."

" I will at that but not much place for sails in a modern Navy. Hopefully things will get sorted out quickly and this war will be over soon so we can all get back to more pleasant things. Speaking about getting back to things I'd better let you get back to work, don't want to get in trouble with your chief."

" Yes I'd better get back to the condensers, but she's in pretty good shape if I do say so myself. We'll have to spend time together when we're not on watch."

"Yes that will be grand, see you later." Roger disappeared back to his beloved engines and John made his way to the conning bridge and the weather deck of the top bridge to look at where his station would be. Just like he once did with the ropes of the Goblin, John familiarized himself with where everything was so that he would be able find whatever he needed when he needed it, when not having to search for something could make the difference between life and death. John glanced at the chronometer and decided that he had best get himself washed up and presentable for supper. It would not do to be late to the wardroom on his first day.

A handful of people started to gather in the wardroom and find places at the table before the Skipper entered and took his seat at it's head. After offering grace the Skipper said, "Gentlemen, I'd like to introduce the newest addition to our family, Sub-Lieutenant John Walker. John comes to us from the real navy courtesy of Jerry's torpedoes and the admiralty's paper shufflers." Going around the table the Skipper introduced everyone. "John you've already met our Coxswain, Leslie Muir, after me he wears the most hats on this boat and I'm sure he'll privately be grateful that you're here to take on a few of them.

Andrew Shepard, our Chief Engineer. We are not often graced by his company at supper because he tends to live with his engines. Andrew is from Newfoundland, he got stuck with us when he chose the wrong time to visit relatives in Glasgow and figured that volunteering on a boat that was going to be hunting U-boats was better than trying to go home on a boat that they might be hunting. If there's anything on this boat that's broke that he can't fix, or at least jigger, we don't need it. Beware if he ever invites you to share some screech with him because if you're not careful that is exactly what your head will be doing the next morning

Our signals officer, Stephen Hill, he also acts as ships librarian and schoollie. He sometimes fancys himself a reporter for the times so be careful what you say or do around him or it might end up in the boat's excuse for a news letter. Stephen spoke up, "Call me bunts, everybody does,I believe I had the pleasure of having your father as an instructor when I was at HMS Ganges. I'd love to hear what parts of an old story about children facing a north sea storm in a small boat are true."

The skipper smiled and said, "See what I mean" then he continued with his introductions.

This is our sparks, our wireless operator, Clarence Bennett, when we're at sea he maintains our connection to the world beyond the horizon and in his copious spare time he also acts as our ground chaser, helping the Chief keep everything electric on this boat operational,

our gunner and Royal Marine detachment , Sergeant-Major Morgan Cawley, I'd say retired but he seems to want to prove the saying, once a marine always a marine. Of all of us aboard this boat he should have known better.

"And I would be remiss if I did not include our steward," the Skipper motioned towards the dark complexioned man who had been busy placing trays of food on the table, "I bloody well can't pronounce his name so we know him as Sandy. by far the person on this boat farthest from home. His family in India sent him here to go to school, silly bugger left university to make sure those of us sitting at this table were properly cared for. In addition to making the finest curries in the fleet and putting a plaster or poltice on one of the lads once and awhile he does his best to introduce some culture to, and guard the dignity of, this ship. Which is at times one of the most difficult tasks aboard. "

after Sandy had cleared the remains of supper and poured coffee for everyone the Skipper said,

"Gentlemen, tomorrow we head out on patrol, we have to be ready for anything so in addition to our normal lookout for Jerry we'll be doing a lot of drill this time out. By the time we get back to port I want every man aboard this boat to be at least comfortable with, if not skilled in, all the weapons we have and, in case of casualties, be able to fill as many of our vital positions as possible.

"John you're to be our executive officer and first lieutenant, additionally I'm going to give you primary responsibility for navigation. I want you to start by plotting us a course north around the Shetland islands which is to be our patrol area this time out."

The Skipper reached for his glass of port and everyone at the table followed suit.

He held his glass up and solemnly said,"Gentlemen, the King."

everyone at the table responded,"the King, God bless him" and they all downed the toast.

When they were dismissed everyone left the wardroom to attend to final preparations so that their departments would be ready for departure with the mid morning tide. For John that meant checking that the chronometers were wound and the freshwater tanks were topped off before pulling out the charts and tide tables he would need. He felt that he was settling in nicely, from stem to stern it looked like they were ready for sea.


	2. Chapter 2 Postie

Postie

On his way back to the ship from the post with a bag of mail Tom stopped at a shop to pick up some cough lozenges and a tin of ticklers tobacco for himself, a tube of camphor liniment that he thought the coxswain might appreciate, and some boiled sweets to share with Roger. Leaving the shop Tom noticed that the Ransom was already flying the Blue Peter which meant she was ready to sail, so he dashed off towards the ship and arrived out of breath, just as they started unshiping the gangplank. He flung the mail sack ahead of him and took a leap off the quay and up to the deck. He barely made it, if he hadn't been able to grab one of the stanchions for the deck rail and haul himself up he would have ended up in the drink for sure. While the mates securing the gangplank laughed the ships gunner came to stand over him and, while scowling down at him said, "You know postie if your going to jump ship right it's usually done t'other way round". Tom smiled as he got to his feet "but major if I had missed the boat the lads wouldn't be getting their post until we got back". The gunner turned to look at the mail sack where it had landed and said "but we've already got our post, it came by air special delivery. Don't know if His Majesty's Navy has much need of any malingering posties, you'd best buck up now and make sure it gets distributed properly." He smiled and added, "hop to it lad!"

Tom picked up the mail sack and brought it into the crew's mess where he took over part of a table to sort the letters and parcels, placed the ones for the crew carefully back in the sack, brought it and the officers mail forward to the officers wardroom and knocked on the door. "enter" the voice of the officers steward came from within so Tom stepped in and said "post for the officers". The steward, smartly dressed in proper rig of the day, somehow he always seemed to be, took a look at Tom's somewhat disheveled appearance particularly how his trousers were scuffed from his unorthodox method of boarding the ship. "I hope the officer's and warrant's post is in better shape than the postie delivering it." Tom handed over the few letters and parcels he had separated from the bulk of the post for the crew and headed back to the deck where he almost ran into Hookie, the leading hand. "There you are", Hookie said, "the major tells me that you're wanting to try for the fleet air arm. Says he's glad you're not a German dive bomber the way you aim the post sack."

"Sorry about that Hookie. It took me longer than I thought it would picking up the post this morning."

"Stow that sailor, at least it and you made it back before we left harbor, but that post is still your responsibility until it's all delivered and I can't be having you running all over t'ship delivering it and keeping the lads from doing their jobs, so, I'm going to have you help Slushy in the galley until dinner. That way you can be useful while watching that bag until you can deliver the post, and be thinking about how much you don't want to make a habit of jumping off quays onto departing ships that you should have already been aboard, understood."

"Yes Hookie."

"Good, now off to the galley with you, there wont be any need to report this to the Skipper, and I'll be keeping you in mind if the ship ever needs a bloke to represent us in the standing long jump or weight over t'bar at the Braemar gathering, course you'll be needing a proper kilt for that." he added with a smile as he turned to leave.

Tom reported to the galley and the cook put him right to work peeling potatoes and chopping onions to go with the fresh sausages that he was cooking up. Dinner was going to be a good lot of bangers and mash with onion gravy, the only thing from tins being evaporated milk for the tea because they had topped off all the supplies in port. The fresh stuff had to be used first since they could only carry three days of fresh foodstuffs, it would be tinned everything soon enough. After everything was done the cook set Tom to scrubbing everything in sight until it was finally time for dinner. All the crew except those on watch gathered in the mess and Tom distributed the post before sitting next to Roger and tucking in himself. Around bites of food Tom said, "So Roger I couldn't help noticing that you got a letter from Dick along with the parcel from Susan, have you had a chance to open them yet?" After sipping from his mug of tea Roger replied, "Yes Susan's sent me some Garibaldi biscuits and a bit of chocolate with nuts and raisins in it. She says that mother isn't mad at me anymore for leaving school and volunteering, seems father told her it saved me from being drafted into the army. The letter from Dick is a couple of months old, posted from the Sudan. The war hadn't even started yet when he wrote it, see Susan forwarded it to me from home."

"Yes I see", said Tom, "It's hard to believe that it's been such a short time since Hitler messed everything up by attacking Poland. I mean, it seems so long ago now don't you think?"

"Yes, it's sort of like holidays and terms at school. When one starts you feel like it's going to last forever but when it's over you wonder where the time went. Gee I wonder if things will have sorted themselves out by Christmas?"

"I certainly hope so. What was Dick doing in the Sudan?"

"Oh yes, It's jolly good, you know that he had gone to visit his father at an archeological dig in Egypt. Well it seems he was to go on from there to the Dutch East Indies to study birds or something! He wrote to tell me that he was going to sail to India on a real Arab Dhow and he was writing the day before he was going to leave! He said that he will try to write again from India, he should have gotten there by now I'd think. I wonder how long his next letter will take?"

"At least as long as it will take us to get back from this patrol I would think"

"Well we don't even know where to send a letter back until we get his next letter letter at least." Roger smiled, "I don't expect you'll be wanting to play the role of postie for a while either now Tom will you."

"Jolly well not if I can help it." Tom replied with a smile.


	3. Chapter 3 Why we're here

Why we're here

As soon as they were out to sea the Skipper started the regimen of drills he had planed.

Responsibility for weapons training was given to the major. Since he had been one of His Majesty's Royal's aboard a cruiser during the Battle of Jutland in the last war, he was not only especially suited for the task but also enthusiastic about it.

Bunts was put in charge of the ships lookouts. Using decks of cards printed with the silhouettes of German and Allied ships and aircraft he was to make sure that every one on watch could tell the difference between friend and foe.

In addition to his normal duties of running the ship Leslie's job as Coxswain included instilling basic seamanship, small boat, and ship handling skills to the crew and, along with the Chief, teaching emergency procedures, damage control, using high pressure hoses to extinguish fires, lifeboat and abandon ship drills and rigging cargo nets over the sides to rescue people in the water.

The first day of gunnery practice the major, wearing long heat resistant gloves, a lifebelt, and a white flash hood under his tin hat, had the ships company that was not on watch assemble on the forward deck. In a voice that carried so that even some of those standing watch could hear he said,

"Two things make us a warship in His Majesty's Navy, the first is the weapons we carry, the second, and far more important, is the competence and determination of you, the men who use them. As long as our guns are serviceable and there is one man aboard who can fire and load them, they will be fired as accurately and quickly as possible. This can make the difference between victory and defeat." He then demonstrated how to estimate range to a target, set a round's fuse, load, traverse, lay, and fire the four inch gun. He divided the crew into teams and ran each team through the drill again but to save ammo each team was allowed to fire only one live round, so they could experience the gun's recoil, otherwise they used a dummy round. He timed each team making it a competition between the teams to see who could complete the drill fastest. He repeated this drill several times during the patrol, and each teams time got better and better.

Since anti submarine warfare was supposedly the Ransom's primary mission quite a bit of training was done with the depth charge rails at the stern and loading and firing the depth charge throwers on either side of the galley. They needed to work quickly as a team so they could drop the depth charges in a pattern timed to go off simultaneously around the suspected position of a submerged U-boat in hopes of cracking it's hull and sinking it, or forcing it to surface giving them a chance to capture it. It was training with the depth charge throwers that was to give them their most serious injury of the patrol. One of the crew slipped while trying to load a thrower and dropped the three hundred pound steel can, filled with high explosives and a hydrostatic detonator, on his foot. Tom helped bandage and splint his broken foot. Roger rigged up a crutch to give the sailor some limited mobility and when he gave it to him, muttered something about how it was to bad Tom or Sandy didn't have any bracken. This finally stopped the crew making fun of Tom's exploits with the post as their jests turned to calling the injured sailor, Sub foot or just Subs, because it was U-boats that depth charges were supposed to injure. Even though Sub's injury prevented him from doing most of his normal duties he still managed to train on firing the Lewis machine guns and, because he could do it while sitting down, he even managed to spend extra time learning how to use the ships ASDIC set to locate submerged U-boats, which only made the name stick.

The Skipper called general quarters several times of day and night at unpredictable times to see how fast people could get to their stations. Close off the Skerries one night, after securing from general quarters, Roger felt like he needed some air to calm his nerves, so instead of going back to his berth after he left his stuffy engine room station he went up to the deck. From there looking out across the dark water he could just make out the waves crashing on the rocky shore. The sound of the ocean and the salty tang of the air started to work on his jangled nerves. Roger remembered the sound of the water on the shores of Wildcat Island. Of holidays spent with John,Susan, and Titty. Of the Amazon pirates, captain Nancy, and her able seaman Peggy. Of Dick and Dorothea.

Just as Roger was wondering what kind of story Dorothea would make of the daring do of the intrepid crew of the battleship HMS Ransom he was startled by something in the water. For a second he could have sworn it was a woman trying to swim to shore, but just as he thought to grab something to throw, it turned into a seal. A voice broke through his confusion, "What tis it lad, d' ye see some't? It was the voice of the old cook standing in the galley's open hatch. Hesitantly Roger replied "I almost thought, but no it was nothing Slushie."

"Ah, me t'inks that kind o nothing deserves a cupa. I've seen a loot o nothing on a watch like this or t' years. Come on in lad and tell an auld tar a'boot it.". Not really wanting to say anything about what he thought he saw but thinking some tea might do some good Roger followed the cook into the galley and doged the hatch behind him. The cook poured Roger a mug of tea from the kettle he kept for the lookouts and got one for himself as well "Out wid it lad tell me wa'tis bothering ye. I'll no be clyping aboot wa we blether aboot. Me mither always said, air'n oot yer troubles goes a long way t' solvin 'em."

"really it's nothing Slushie, I think I'm just over tired."

"Aye an it be the why ye spendin time on t' deck stead o in ye bunk just new, an having such a start lik ye did"

"I was startled because. Well because I thought I saw a woman trying to swim in this ice cold water but when I looked again it was just a seal."

"Yer no aff yer heid if tet be what yer tinkin lad. I dinnae ken fer sure but ye might hae seen a Selkie ."

"Whats a Selkie?"

"Me mither telt me aboot t selkies when I were a wee lad. Tey're sea folk don't ya know, tey ken change wen tey wants ta. Tey ken be normal folks lik yoo r' I orn tey ken be seals. Te lads r' strang, dark n fierce. If'n ye cross em tey can drive t' fish out o ye nets r call up a sterm liken ta sink t stoutest ship. But the lassies new, aye the lassies r ta finest wummin ye ha er set yer eyes upon. Tinkin aboot tem can drive a man crazy,but then thinking aboot any wummin will do that t' a man. Ha'ven ye got a lassie t' ome?"

"No, unless you count my mother and sisters, and some childhood friends. I was just thinking about how much I miss them, wondering if I did the right thing volunteering, and if I'll ever see them again."

"Lad whits's fur ye'll no go by ye. No mater what tales the major tells a'boot t'honor and glory of the royal navy, tis lasses and barins that we're oot here fer, stead of t'hame wit' em ere we belong. Every breath we take, every drop o'blood we spill is fer tem, t' keep em safe, that's why we're here lad, no mistake a'boot it, that's why we're here. Tis wha we've go t' keep t' mind times we're lonely, cold, and dog tired w' pains t' every piece o ye. Tink on tem" they were both quite for a while until Slushie said "Well I dinnae ken aboot ye lad but am pure done in, am oft t' me berth, breakfast will be soon enough, and the Skipper might just call t'nother alarum while am dishing oot t' cornflakes". Roger went off to his berth as well and drifted off to sleep thinking of Selkies.


	4. Chapter 4 Bright sky, Dark waters

Bright sky, Dark waters

John was on watch on the weather deck of the top bridge, a little over two weeks had passed since the ship had left port on this their longest patrol yet, but they were on their way home. They had sailed north and west, past the Shetlands and Faeroe islands and on towards Iceland, patrolling for U-Boats or any other German ships. They had not spotted anything other than a few North Atlantic trawlers from Norway. The Skipper seemed to have known all of them but they had stopped and checked each one of them anyways before letting them go. The only excitement had been the weather, a few gales had tossed them about as a reminder that the ocean had dangers other than U-Boats. Tonight however was clear, the ship was dark but the sky was brilliant, with the ghostly ripples of green and blue of the northern lights to port and a glittering wash of stars to starboard. "Dick would have loved to see this" John quietly said to himself as he brought his glasses back up and continued scanning the ocean for anything out of place. A voice from the speaking tube from below broke the silence. " Sir, Sparks just received an S.O.S from a freighter, she sends her position, says she's been torpedoed and is taking on water."

"Thanks Leslie, better wake the Skipper and make for that position, full ahead."

"Aye, full ahead making for their last known position, and wake the Skipper". Shortly after that the Skipper, wearing his life vest and tin hat, joined John on the upper bridge. He said "Well seems like life's gotten interesting for some poor sods", bending to the speaking tube he shouted down "Sound general quarters."

"Aye Sir, sound general quarters". The klaxon sounded and the peaceful ship quickly turned into a hullabaloo of activity, and just as quickly settled into a tense watch-fullness. "Sir all stations report maned and ready"

"Very good," using the ship's loud hailer the Skipper said, "all hands on deck keep close watch. That U-boat might be lurking about waiting for ships responding to that S.O.S. and we don't want to miss anything."

Just then John saw a red flare cut the night on the horizon. "Sir, surface contact bearing thirty degrees off the starboard bow."

The Skipper turned his glasses towards that direction. "Helm make for that position, forward gun, load a star shell. When we get a bit closer I'm going to want a good look." A chorus of "Aye Sirs" echoed back and the Skipper turned to John. "When that star shell goes off I want you to be looking anywhere but it's location, I want one of us to keep his night vision so we wont be blind sided if that U-boat isn't caught in it's light."

"Aye, Aye Sir" said John and, overcoming his desire to see where they were heading, he turned to look aft into the darkness. It was an interminable twenty minutes before they closed the distance and the Skipper shouted down, "Slow to half forward and lets have that star shell". The sharp report of the four inch gun was quickly followed by the burst of the parachute flare with it's brilliant light casting flickering patches of shadow suggesting how bright it would be if John turned forward. With an effort of will he did not turn to look, instead John focused his attention on scanning the dark sea for any hint of a lurking U-boat, but the view in his glasses revealed nothing but the vast expanse of the Atlantic. Just as the flare extinguished the speaking tube blurted "Skipper lookout says there's a lifeboat in the water, and a bunch of debris"

"Very well, circle that location and have Subs make an ASDIC sweep to be sure". Turning from the speaking tube he said "John I want you to go down and relieve the Coxswain at the helm. His eyes are sure to have been dazzled by the flare and I want a good set of night eyes on the wheel. Tell him I want him to get a rescue net over the side and prepare to bring the blokes in that boat aboard."

"Aye, Aye Sir" said John as he turned to drop down the ladder to the conning bridge. They made a couple circles of the location where the freighter had been and Subs reported no ASDIC contact so the Skipper ordered John to slowly bring the ship alongside the lifeboat so they could rescue the men huddled in her.

Meanwhile on deck Tom had been helping man the four inch gun but Leslie pulled him off to help with the rescue since, because his father was a Doctor and the reputation he'd earned tending to Sub's foot, the Cox'un's cold, and several other minor insults to the flesh of the crew, he ended up being the member of the crew with the most medical knowledge, even better than the officers steward who's job technically included first aid. Together with Leslie, Hookie, and Sidney, Tom helped pull seventeen survivors out of the lifeboat and brought them to the crew's mess where the cook and the officer's steward passed out mugs of hot chocolate and blankets before going back to the galley to make corned beef sandwiches for everyone, the rescued and the crew. Of the seventeen wet, cold, and frightened people the Ransom's crew had pulled out of the North Atlantic eleven were crew and six were passengers of which two were women. Leslie made the rounds asking their names and doling out a tot of rum to all of them while Tom checked them out for any injuries. Luckily no one was seriously injured just a few sprains and abrasions and one laceration that needed a few stitches before Tom painted it with iodine and bound it up tightly. His biggest worry was shock and exposure, the blankets and chocolate helped with that but he thought they really needed to be put to bed as soon as possible so leaving them in the care of Hookie and Sidney, Tom went to talk to Leslie. He found Leslie up on the top bridge with the Skipper and as soon as he cleared the ladder the Skipper asked, "so Tom how are our guests faring?"

"Reasonably well considering, I don't think the reality of what's happened has really registered with them yet and I think they could all use a bit of a lie down Sir."

"Agreed, I was just telling Leslie to get all the blokes into berths, any officers can be put in the wardroom and the Ladies can both have my cabin if they don't want to be alone, there's space there, or you can put one of them in the Lieutenant's birth if they'd prefer."

"Aye Sir" said Leslie, "but I'm sorry to say there weren't any officers brought aboard from that boat Skipper."

"More's the pity, I'd say that means they've lost about half their crew, well we'll stay about till morning and see if any more souls appear. That U-boat might still be lurking around and I don't want to make ourselves an easy target for it. You two go make our guests as comfortable as possible now."

Tom and Leslie both said "Aye Sir" and went down to see to the needs of the nights victims.

Morning did not bring them any more survivors so the Skipper ordered half the crew to secure from general quarters and told John, "Lieutenant, make a course for home at your best speed. We need to see these people safely ashore as soon as we can and I think we could all use some rest soon."

"Aye, Aye Skipper" John replied from his place at the wheel, and then to himself he added "as much as Jerry will let us get."


End file.
